Does anyone else have particular things they make sure to do each time they setup a new TV? I always try to make sure overscan is turned off, and any motion interpolation settings turned off too on LCDs.
I used to be a bit cheeky I suppose and offer to adjust other sets if I saw something amiss (such as changing the picture mode on a set top box connected to a 16:9 TV from 4:3 centre cut-out to 16:9) but I do respect other people’s settings now!
Supposedly the easiest way on modern sets to turn off all the terrible image processing and overly cool picture is to set it to ‘Movie’ or ‘Cinema’ mode, which can look quite yellow if you’re used to the standard or vivid settings, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I don’t suppose anyone here has paid for a proper calibration of a more expensive set, would be interesting to hear people’s experiences.
I totally get the thing about offering to adjust other people's TVs for them! Visiting my parents recently and they'd got a new Samsung TV which has some strange setting in which the screen goes really dark whenever the image is mostly back - end credits as a result are usually quite hard to see and then as the credits end and the image changes to a bright ITV breakbumper you see the screen jolt up in brightness to compensate! I have tried to turn this off when they weren't looking but thus far haven't been able to find the setting so each time I visit I go through another menu and by Christmas I might well have 'fixed' it!
Screens going darker during ITV credits is usually a backlight or power setting in Auto mode, my cheap TV I got from Argos in 2010 does the same thing.
Back in the days of analogue TV I memorised the UHF channels numbers for the various networks as you'd have to tune them all in manually as opposed to pressing "Setup". Still remember it too - UHF channels 40, 43, 46 and 50 from Sutton Coldfield, for BBC Two, Central, BBC 1 and Channel 4 respectively (and later channel 37 for Channel 5 from Lichfield). I dare say the UHF channel numbers are still in use for the various muxes on Freeview.
Personally I'd leave the overscan settings alone unless there was a real need to alter it - an old TV my parents had had too much overscan on the bottom and it chopped off half the ticker on the 2005 Sky News relaunch - one Google and bashing of various keys later I managed to reduce the overscan on the TV but it never looked right to me after I'd done it - nobody else said anything so I left it.
Back in the days of analogue TV I memorised the UHF channels numbers for the various networks as you'd have to tune them all in manually as opposed to pressing "Setup". Still remember it too - UHF channels 40, 43, 46 and 50 from Sutton Coldfield, for BBC Two, Central, BBC 1 and Channel 4 respectively (and later channel 37 for Channel 5 from Lichfield). I dare say the UHF channel numbers are still in use for the various muxes on Freeview.
Yes they are and are still useful to know if you want to manually scan one MUX without doing a full rescan.
Personally I'd leave the overscan settings alone unless there was a real need to alter it - an old TV my parents had had too much overscan on the bottom and it chopped off half the ticker on the 2005 Sky News relaunch - one Google and bashing of various keys later I managed to reduce the overscan on the TV but it never looked right to me after I'd done it - nobody else said anything so I left it.
Overscan on old CRT televisions wasn't something I had a problem with or the technical knowhow to fix, but what I'm talking about is the unnecessary overscan on HD signals. The function is sometimes known as 'Just Scan' or '1:1' but it makes sure that you're actually seeing all of the HD picture. Odd stuff on the edges of the picture doesn't exist on HD broadcasts.
Back in the days of analogue TV I memorised the UHF channels numbers for the various networks as you'd have to tune them all in manually as opposed to pressing "Setup". Still remember it too - UHF channels 40, 43, 46 and 50 from Sutton Coldfield, for BBC Two, Central, BBC 1 and Channel 4 respectively (and later channel 37 for Channel 5 from Lichfield). I dare say the UHF channel numbers are still in use for the various muxes on Freeview.
Yes they are and are still useful to know if you want to manually scan one MUX without doing a full rescan.
Particularly useful if you live in a region like mine where there are now two competing strong signals since DSO (Winter Hill and Moel y Parc). This was a reported problem on the regional news after switchover back in 2009 but the advice was simply to take out the aerial/plug in the aerial (can't remember which) when the automatic tuning gets past the halfway mark. If you know the manual frequency numbers it's much easier and certain that you're getting the right channels from the right transmitter.
Whenever I had a new tv in the CRT era, I'd spend half a day adjusting the settings as the default setting was too bright or too dark, along with colours that were too red.
The last TV I purchased in 2014 only required me to change the sharpness setting. Otherwise it was connecting the tv online.
Odd stuff on the edges of the picture doesn't exist on HD broadcasts.
Whilst it is less widespread - you certainly do see issues on some HD broadcasts.
Philips/Thomson/GrassValley cameras with analogue HD triax sometimes show horizontal blanking/timing errors. (Amazing how many people think the link between the camera and the CCU is digital... It isn't always. A lot of HD triax cameras use analogue component transmission - though Sony have a digital compression scheme on their newer triax cameras. Their older system also used analogue techniques - which could be quite noisy ISTR)
DVEs going into and out of circuit sometimes show half-line artefacts at the top and bottom of frame, as can some keyed full-screen graphics (which aren't quite full-screen)
You can also sometimes see EVS chroma scaling artefacts on CSO/Chroma-key stinged packages (replays on Strictly were a common one for years) where you see a grey line on the right of frame as the key is cut on ready for the VT run (because the final chroma different samples aren't properly generated and so don't key). (This happens if you use a 1440x1080 codec like DVC Pro HD)
Plus of course you still have errors on any SD to HD upconversions (unless they are carefully handled to minimise/reduce them)
Supposedly the easiest way on modern sets to turn off all the terrible image processing and overly cool picture is to set it to ‘Movie’ or ‘Cinema’ mode, which can look quite yellow if you’re used to the standard or vivid settings, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I don’t suppose anyone here has paid for a proper calibration of a more expensive set, would be interesting to hear people’s experiences.
Arguably switching to a "game" preset is more appropriate if you're looking to avoid any post-processing. It will disable just about everything to minimise input latency.
I go the other way on overscan and go for full screen. But I watch a lot of YouTube content and not all content producers are as aware of safe areas as they might be.
I go the other way on overscan and go for full screen. But I watch a lot of YouTube content and not all content producers are as aware of safe areas as they might be.
Yep - I use a number of TVs as PC displays some of the time, so usually disabled or minimise simulated overscan. I also disable pretty much every noise reduction, contrast enhancement, 'live colour' etc. function I can find, along with any motion interpolation. I use a test disc to set the sharpness level so that it isn't masking any fine detail (on some sets this is 0, but on others 0 is 'negative sharpness' and 50% is better)
Supposedly the easiest way on modern sets to turn off all the terrible image processing and overly cool picture is to set it to ‘Movie’ or ‘Cinema’ mode, which can look quite yellow if you’re used to the standard or vivid settings, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I don’t suppose anyone here has paid for a proper calibration of a more expensive set, would be interesting to hear people’s experiences.
Arguably switching to a "game" preset is more appropriate if you're looking to avoid any post-processing. It will disable just about everything to minimise input latency.
It's usually recommended by hi-fi/home cinema magazines and websites to set a TV to the 'movie' preset, as it tends to have the closest colour temperature and picture to the reference monitors that TV/film producers use. The only downside is that this is sometimes optimised for dark rooms and so won't look good in the daytime or if you use overhead lights, but this can usually be sorted by upping the backlight level.
It can be confusing as TV manufacturers always seem to use completely different terminology for the same technology. Sometimes they take it further; looking at the 'i-manual' for my Sony TV, depending on which country you live in there are three different names used to describe just one particular feature on my set.
There are also different menus you have to go through like choosing 'Scene Select' which has different options than the 'Picture' menu.